Remember high school health class when Coach So-and-so (don't pretend that your health teacher wasn't a coach) talked about HIV? Coach Whats-his-face said that HIV was incurable, and once you got it, there was nothing you could do to get rid of it. Coach also said that the only way to prevent HIV was by using condoms or staying abstinent.
While HIV may still be incurable, there have been leaps and bounds in the scientific community to help prevent HIV. Enter: PrEP.
PrEP is a daily pill taken to prevent HIV from developing, should the virus ever enter your body.

You all remember that one kid in middle school? You know, the one that seemed like he just owned a bunch of cargo shorts and no regular pants. He didn’t necessarily know what STDs were, but the only “bad” sexual word that he knew was herpes. So he really liked talking about it. Like, a lot. Herpes can be SO fun to randomly whisper in the middle of a silent classroom… When you’re a twelve-year-old boy.

There are many STDs that can, at least initially, be so subtle that you may not notice them. They usually start out with very mild symptoms and then progress to the point that they simply cannot be ignored. Then, there are STDs like crabs. These little insects can be impossible to miss.
If you’ve noticed some foreign invaders in your “private territories,” you may have genital lice. These nasty bugs attach themselves to rough body hair and feed on the blood of their hosts, causing intense itching. Due to their similar appearance under a microscope, pubic lice are best known as

Let’s clear one thing up; it is possible to get chlamydia in the throat. This is usually only possible if someone is giving oral sex to another person already infected with chlamydia. Oral chlamydia is not as common as genital chlamydia, but it is possible.

*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
I contracted HIV because I failed to use sexual precautions with my long time monogamous partner, to whom I would have been married if it were legal at that time. I never like answering the question, 'how did you get HIV'. It has been my experience that people want to decide for themselves if you “deserved” it or not based on their judgment of your behavior.
It has been my experience that people like to deny the reality that life can be

Ah, Summer. As thoughts of sunshine, pool time, and vacations on sandy white beaches enter our minds, another thought comes with it: swimsuits.
Soon dressing rooms will flood with women trying on swimsuits to see which ones hide and accentuate the right body parts, and chances are, you'll be a part of that flock. Eventually, you'll buy one and await the perfect moment for you to reveal yourself in your brand new bikini. But, before you do, you hear a tiny voice in the back of your head asking, "Should I wash this before wearing it? Can I get an STD from a new swimsuit?"

We Get It, You’re Invincible.
You are a strong, and independent human being. Your life feels like one of those car commercials where you’re springboarding from one activity to another to show how versatile you are. Boss life. Mom life. Student life. Athletic life. Obscure activity, like underwater-basket-weaving... life.
What a time to be alive. It kind of feels like you’re living in a never-ending state of FOMO (fear of missing out). There will always be someone busier than you, and, ultimately, you could always be doing more. Right? Maybe the only time you really allow yourself to

Dear Internet,
We were hoping it wouldn't come to this. We were hoping you would take the hints and we'd be able to save you the embarrassment. Yet, here we are, writing an open letter to you, our dearest friend: The Internet. You are the reason we're in business, and, gosh, we--we just love you so much. But listen, Internet, buddy, you' ve got to stop hitting on our live chat reps.